Play Russian Solitaire Online for Free

Russian Solitaire is the tougher cousin of Yukon Solitaire. The deal is the same, and you can still move any face-up card with every card on top of it. The catch is that the tableau builds down in suit, so each card has only one place to go.

Russian Solitaire Objective

Win Russian Solitaire by moving all 52 cards to the four foundations, building each one up in suit from Ace to King.

The whole deck is dealt into seven tableau columns, and there’s no stockpile. The first column holds a single face-up card. Each of the other six columns has one to six face-down cards with five face-up cards on top, so 21 cards start face down and 31 start face up.

Most random Russian Solitaire deals can’t be won. To avoid impossible games, we’ve made all our Russian games winnable. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t get stuck if you don’t move cards in the right order. We’ll tell you when there are no more moves, but when in doubt, use the Hint button.

Russian Solitaire Rules

• Build down in suit. A card can only go on the next-higher card of its own suit. The 7♥ goes on the 8♥ and nowhere else in the tableau.
• Any face-up card can be moved. Every card on top of it moves too, in order or not. Only the card you pick up, at the bottom of the group, has to fit where it lands.
• Only Kings can go into an empty column. A King can move on its own or with every card on top of it.
• Face-down cards flip automatically when uncovered.
• Build the foundations up in suit. Each foundation starts with an Ace and builds up to the King. Only the last card in a column can go to a foundation. You can drag a foundation card back to the tableau, but it counts as a penalty.

The game is over when you’re at a gridlock – no move can uncover a new card and no more cards can reach the foundations. Undo takes back a move, Hint points out a useful one, Restart replays the same deal, and New Game deals a fresh one.

Click-to-move is on by default, so clicking a card sends it, with everything on top of it, to the best place it can go. Once every card is face up and the game can be won, Autocomplete plays the rest out for you. In Options > Settings > Game Options you can also have safe cards go to the foundations as you play, or turn Autocomplete off and finish by hand.

Russian Solitaire vs. Yukon

Russian Solitaire uses the same deal and the same group moves as Yukon Solitaire. The one difference is how the tableau builds.

• Yukon builds in alternating colors. A red 7 has two places to go, the 8♠ and the 8♣.
• Russian builds in suit. Each card has exactly one place to go, so the 7♥ waits for the 8♥.

Half as many places for every card makes Russian the harder game. A deal can jam early, so it rewards reading the whole layout before the first move.

Tips and Strategies to Win Russian Solitaire

• Uncover the face-down cards first. The columns on the right hide the most cards. To reach a face-down card you only need a place for the face-up card right on top of it, since every card above comes along.
• Watch for a card trapped above the card it needs. The 9♦ can only be played on the 10♦. If the 9♦ is above the 10♦ in the same column, the 9♦ is blocking access to the very card it needs to move onto. You must first move the 10♦ out from underneath the 9♦, typically by placing it on the J♦ if available. This allows you to unravel the column, free the 9♦, and eventually bring the two cards together. Watch for these situations early so you can plan the necessary moves before the cards become difficult to access.
• Work backward from blocked cards. Don’t just focus on the cards you can move right now. Identify the card you need to access or play next, then work backward to figure out what’s preventing you from getting there.
• Send cards to the foundations freely. In Yukon you sometimes hold a card back for others to build on. In Russian the only card that could build on it is the next-lower card of its suit, which is already on the foundation, so there’s nothing to lose.
• Free a column for a King. A King sitting on face-down cards can only move to an empty column. Pick the King whose move turns up the most cards or frees the cards you need next.

Your score rewards efficient play, so winning faster and in fewer moves scores higher. Every card or group you move, including moves to the foundations, and every Undo or Hint counts as a move. Undo, Hint, and moving a card off a foundation also count as penalties. Learn more about how Solitaire is scored.